Geography 103-03 – Fall 2006 – Study
Outline for Exam 1
You are responsible for all of the assigned readings; the material in the
lecture notes (Lecture sets 1-5); the
assigned video; and the assigned material on the GEODE CDROM and WW2010 Web
Site.
Below, you will find a list of material that was emphasized
in the lecture notes. This is not meant to be an all inclusive
list of material that will be on the exam. Study hard and good luck!
I. Introduction
- Earth Systems concepts
- The Earth Sciences (Geology,
Meteorology, Astronomy, Oceanography)
- Earth's Spheres (subsystems)
- Methods of science
- Evolution (Formation) of our
solar system
- Atmospheric Variables
II. The Atmosphere: Composition, Structure, Heating, and
Air Pollution
- Weather (Wx) Versus Climate
- Wx elements
- The evolution of Earth's
Atmosphere
- composition of the atmosphere
- structure of the atmosphere -
by temperature (troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere),
composition, & function
- Why colder with height in
troposphere? warmer w/ht. in stratosphere? colder w/ht. in mesosphere?
warmer w/ht. in thermosphere?
- atmospheric pressure
- atmospheric density
- Pressure and Density changes
with height
- the ozone layer
- air pollution, natural and
anthropogenic sources, primary and secondary pollutants, industrial smog
and photochemical smog, ground level ozone
- insolation
- earth-sun geometry
- the electromagnetic spectrum
- radiation laws (understand
how temperature affects the quality and quantity of electromagnetic
radiation)
- uneven distribution of
insolation
- declination
- direct versus indirect
radiation
- seasonality (changes in
daylength and altitude angle of the sun)
- why the seasons (i.e., the
reasons for the seasons)
- albedo
- imbalance in insolation (NET
R) leads to the uneven heating of Earth's surface, which leads to
atmospheric and oceanic circulations
- heat transfer processes
(conduction, radiation, convection)
- reflection, scattering, and
absorption
- The Greenhouse Effect
- important greenhouse gases
- Earth's energy balance
- Earth and atmosphere
radiation balances